"I wish the word terrorist would be erased from our language. All meaning has been pumped out of it by our rulers and their media, who wish to demonize everyone or -thing they dislike starting with Us The People." —Gore Vidal

There is no shortage of irony for me in this years Olympic games being held in Beijing, China. A police state couched in nationalistic pride based on the writings of a sociopathic revolutionary, China is keen to embrace a practice that is ultimately a precursor to war. Jingoism is alive an well in the 21st Century, and China is not alone in its affectionate attraction to the practice. We Americans, the worlds’ only superpower (as we’re so fond of stating despite its absurdity) have fueled China’s fervor and growth since Nixon’s first visit in 1972. I reference this point in history no only for its reference to our corrosive effects on the world, but because of the parallels present to our current government. Although Nixon lacked the faux common-man swagger and feigned ignorance of G. W. Bush, he wrote the first chapters in the book of twentieth century American political dirty tricks. It should be duly noted that Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security advisor was the mastermind behind the China visit and is still consulting with our administration today. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld also served various posts in the Nixon administration. Kissinger realized early on that in order to counter the effects of Russian imperialism in contrast to our own, and to secure key economic and resource advantages (oil & gas in the middle east and cheap labor in China) we would have to embrace the Chinese.

Here we are in the summer of 2008 and the Olympics are being held in Beijing. The Tibetans have been crushed and the Dalai Lama fed lip service. The Indians and Pakistani’s now have nuclear weapons, and Taiwan is making peace with the Chinese. There is a larger imperative at work here which supports a global corporate paradigm. If we recall the true meaning of fascism, then we understand that it is based in Corporatocracy. Corporations love police states because it coincides with their own sociopathic drive to make money, at any human cost. That is why the world can sit idly by and watch the most historically peaceful nation on earth be systematically ethnically cleansed and displaced while simultaneously celebrating the glory of international athletic competition. The word terrorist and terrorism is a device used by nations and people with great power to isolate challenges to that power and marginalize their capacity to change what is imbalanced or wrong. The violence of terrorist acts is thrown around by the corporate media as a tool to keep the citizenry afraid and unwilling to associate themselves with others who are looking to break free from corporate driven bondage. Athletics is a cloak, a device for concealing violence itself. When the games were recreated in Athens in the 19th Century it was because Pierre de Coubertin had witnessed the Prussian demolition of the French and sought a way to invigorate young frenchmen to be more able bodied in time of war through athletic competition.

The next time you take a sip of your Coke think about the thousands in Tibet or Darfur who suffer and die so that Coca-Cola can sell more sugar water in China. Then, stop and think what it really means when we say terrorist and if that word has any real currency anymore.